Hola Amigos!
We made it to our hotel/ranch safe and sound. With the exception of a couple of delays and changes in Dallas, our flights and security checks have gone amazingly well. The drive from the airport to our hotel was longer than usual as it was rush hour. I would say the traffic was/is crazy, but that would be an understatement! There are traffic signals and police around, but no one pays attention and communication from vehicle-to-vehicle is through horn honking and hand signals. But our trusty drivers, Victor and Ashley, have gotten us to where we need to be safe and sound. Our hotel hosts have been most gracious and were waiting for us. We (Ryan & Cory) had to unload all 30 suitcases off the rack on top of the van when we got there so Victor could go on to the ranch and we could go through the luggage and get all of the candy out that we needed to go to the dump today. This morning then, all of it was reloaded and taken to the ranch. We had to take all of our stuff out of the hotel with us, eventhough we will still be staying there because the rooms we needed were already booked and the rooms we stayed in are rented out hourly. It was a very chilly night and morning this morning. The heaters in the room weren't functioning. But the hot showers felt great after a long day on the dusty roads. As I said before, we went to the dump today. I will talk about that in future postings after we have a chance to process all the sights and smells that we encountered there. Right now, there are no words to describe the poverty. However, I did go ahead and post a couple of pictures. One is at the hotel, which is very nice, clean and a quaint little place. The picture with the luggage is in one of the 2 driveways of the hotel. The rooms are decorated with dark wood floorings, wrought iron and dim lighting. The bathrooms are very nicely tiled and very modern. The other picture is of the group handing out candy to the children at the dump. The children are beautiful with their dark hair and black eyes. As I said, more on that later. As I type, I'm looking at Mount PoPo - gorgeous view. As far as the food, Victor took us to KFC on the way to the hotel before we left Mexico City. That was an experience, but it tasted good. Today before going to the dump Pati served us cereal with fresh strawberries and fresh milk. We packed our lunches and ate on the way to the dump. Victor served us delicious hambergers and papas fritas (french fries) with Strawberry shortcake for supper. I better wrap up now as we need to load up and go back to the hotel. We still have to unload all 30 suitcases again! We will be starting to help out at the ranch tomorrow. Hopefully, I will have more time to post tomorrow.
Dios Le Bendiga! (God Bless You)
Teresa